Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen

It's been said that there's no place like Texas, and this year's Senate primaries seem to confirm the suspicion. We've got a cast of characters that includes incumbent John Cornyn up against the likes of AG Ken Paxton and TX-38's Wesley Hunt on the one side, and a couple of young challengers like Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico hoping to shake things up for Democrats. To cover these big, bold, brash races and some of the 14 open House primaries, Henry sits down with Gromer Jeffers of The Dallas Morning News.
 
Plus, Henry takes a close look at a few ads coming out of the race for Mikie Sherrill's old seat, New Jersey 11.

With an election year upon us, it's time to brace yourselves for candidates making their way onto your television, tablet and smartphone screens with messages catered to inspire and outrage you, the coveted primary voter. This means Henry is back with the Ad of the Week, this time taking a close look at Illinois' Senate frontrunner Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Democrat looking to replace soon-to-be-retired Dick Durbin. For contrast, we head south to Texas, where Chip Roy aims to leverage his name recognition in a bid to be the Lone Star State's next Attorney General.

And in light of Mary Peltola's announcement that she'll challenge Dan Sullivan for his Senate seat, Henry takes us out with a rant about the latest in the Democratic Party's gambit to retake the upper chamber.

We're finally just 10 months away from the 2026 midterms everyone's been on about since Trump returned to office! So to get us off to a good start, Henry sits down again with RealClearPolitics' Sean Trende. The duo considers the political waves that may ripple out from two potentially seismic Supreme Court decisions: Callais v. Louisiana and National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC; they search for precision in assessing the president's needed approval rating among registered voters to keep the House; and they move over to the ostensibly safe Senate to determine the merits of Democrats' claim that their top-billed candidates can triumph over untested Rs trying to hold their party's home turf.

It's time for the annual Beyond the Polls Festivus episode! That's right, before you immerse yourself entirely into the holiday spirit, join Henry for one last rant of 2025. On his naughty list you'll find pollsters with dodgy models; an unrestrained Mr. President, who's back to tweeting and ugly truthing his way into unpopularity; and who can forget the centrist Democrats? Or, wait...how could we not forget them when they fail to deliver results? 

But it ain't all bad! Stay tuned to the end for credit given to this year's great feats of strength, shown both by the progressive base over their own party and DJT's TKO of MTG.

One week out from Thanksgiving, Henry's back in a mood to rant! He starts out in Tennessee to bring some clarity to the mixed messages you may be receiving from analyses of the special election. Next, he looks at how the economy and the shutdown may be weighing down Trump's approval rating, and considers how the dealmaker-in-chief could get his groove back. And finally, he takes a look at Marjorie Taylor Greene's decision to resign, considering how this and other coming retirements will complicate the lives of partisan leaders who have to worry about not only their opponents in Congress but also challenges from in-party activists.